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World J Gastroenterol. Dec 7, 2013; 19(45): 8252-8257
Published online Dec 7, 2013. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v19.i45.8252
Management of portopulmonary hypertension: New perspectives
Luigi Mancuso, Francesca Scordato, Michela Pieri, Eliana Valerio, Andrea Mancuso
Luigi Mancuso, Department of Cardiologia, Ospedale Cervello, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Luigi Mancuso, Francesca Scordato, Michela Pieri, Eliana Valerio, Cardiologia, Clinica Candela, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Andrea Mancuso, Epatologia e Gastroenterologia, Ospedale Niguarda Cà Granda Milano, 20162 Milano, Italy
Andrea Mancuso, Medicina Interna 1, ARNAS Civico, 90100 Palermo, Italy
Author contributions: All the authors gave substantial contributions for conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data and drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, and gave final approval of the version to be published.
Correspondence to: Andrea Mancuso, MD, Epatologia e Gastroenterologia, Ospedale Niguarda Cà Granda Milano, Piazza Ospedale Maggiore 3, 20162 Milano, Italy. mancandrea@libero.it
Telephone: +39-3298997893 Fax: +39-91-329447
Received: September 6, 2013
Revised: September 24, 2013
Accepted: October 13, 2013
Published online: December 7, 2013
Core Tip

Core tip: Moderate-to-severe portopulmonary hypertension (PPHTN) implies an extremely poor prognosis and patients are generally excluded from liver transplantation. Recently, some pulmonary vasoactive drugs have become routine in the treatment of patients with idiopathic pulmonary hypertension and have been recently introduced in the treatment of patients with PPHTN. Recent studies seem to demonstrate that treatment with pulmonary vasoactive drugs could allow liver transplantation with acceptable surgical risks and excellent survival. This paper reports a review on management of PPHTN.